Car bomb kills 90 in Pakistan city of Peshawar

More than 90 people were killed on Wednesday when a car bomb ripped through a crowded market in the Pakistan city of Peshawar.

The blast started a fire that engulfed the area inside Peshawar's congested old cityPhoto: AFP/GETTY

By Saeed Shah in Islamabad and Emal Khan in Peshawar

7:55PM GMT 28 Oct 2009

The attack was the deadliest terrorist strike in Pakistan for two years and came as Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, arrived in the region to shore up confidence in America's beleaguered ally.

Women and children were among the victims of the bombing, for which Pakistani officials blamed the Taliban. More than 200 were injured as the blast flattened rows of shops and started a fire that engulfed the area inside Peshawar's congested old city. The Peepal Mandi market is known for selling make-up, and wedding-related goods, making it popular among women. Shopkeepers previously had been threatened by Islamist extremists objecting to women shopping.

"I've seen seven bodies of women, some of them charred, brought out from the debris of the razed buildings," said Noor Khan, who had been shopping in a neighbouring market in Peshawar. "It was a deafening sound and there were plumes of smoke and dust all around the narrow and already dark streets."

Ali Akhbar, a clothes shop owner, said. "It was like a massive earthquake. Everything in my shop fell on me. There was so much smoke. When everything fell on me I passed out."

Doctors at Peshawar's Lady Reading Hospital said many of the casualties were women and children. "We have 92 dead bodies and 217 injured people. Nineteen of the dead are women and 11 are children. All the dead are civilians," said Doctor Zafar Iqbal.

Related Articles

It was Pakistan's worst terrorist atrocity since bombers killed 150 people at a rally held in Karachi in October, 2007, to welcome home Benazir Bhutto, the former prime minister. She was assassinated in a later attack.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, said he was outraged at the "appalling loss of innocent lives" in the market attack.

Cities across Pakistan have been targeted in bomb and gun attacks since the beginning of this month when the army began preparing for an offensive in South Waziristan, the heartland of insurgents on the Afghan border.

Peshawar is home to 2.5 million people and a gateway to the tribal territory.

"The terrorists are trying to demoralise the people and the government," said Bashir Bilour, a senior provincial minister visiting the scene. "Even if we have to die, we'll keep fighting these terrorists until our last breadth."

Mrs Clinton began a three-day visit to Pakistan, amid extraordinary security measures. Many Pakistanis blame the American presence in the region for the instability that has struck Pakistan and Afghanistan. "I want you to know that this fight is not Pakistan's alone," Mrs Clinton told a news conference in Islamabad. "This is our struggle as well."

Mrs Clinton was visiting Pakistan amid anger over rigorous stipulations in a new aid package passed by the Congress that requires the country prove that its civilian officials control the military and that it can maintain adequate safeguards for its nuclear facilities.

Pakistan has protested that the requirements infringe its sovereignty.